From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sun May 1 09:43:51 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 17DF4AD9DE3 for ; Sun, 1 May 2016 09:43:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bourne.identity@hotmail.com) Received: from BLU004-OMC4S8.hotmail.com (blu004-omc4s8.hotmail.com [65.55.111.147]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.outlook.com", Issuer "Microsoft IT SSL SHA2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id CEEE01ECF for ; Sun, 1 May 2016 09:43:50 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bourne.identity@hotmail.com) Received: from BLU436-SMTP195 ([65.55.111.137]) by BLU004-OMC4S8.hotmail.com over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(7.5.7601.23008); Sun, 1 May 2016 02:42:43 -0700 X-TMN: [2rPbMExeNuJg28jGfIYc+hh1eWe0vzGM] X-Originating-Email: [bourne.identity@hotmail.com] Message-ID: Subject: Re: Is 10.3 i386 jinxed ? To: Polytropon References: <20160430084415.03be443d.freebsd@edvax.de> <5724604D.3020804@hotmail.com> <20160430203426.a9d5841b.freebsd@edvax.de> CC: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu From: Manish Jain Date: Sun, 1 May 2016 15:11:12 +0530 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.7.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20160430203426.a9d5841b.freebsd@edvax.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 01 May 2016 09:42:41.0506 (UTC) FILETIME=[CE2A7420:01D1A38D] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 01 May 2016 09:43:51 -0000 On 05/01/16 00:04, Polytropon wrote: > On Sat, 30 Apr 2016 23:43:47 +0530, Manish Jain wrote: >> I reinstalled the whole system using xfce as the desktop. While things >> have improved, the system is still not workable. >> >> 1) The installer 'forgot' to place the boot code on the MBR. I had to >> use live CD + boot0cfg to fix that. > Use MBR only if needed. Today's preference is to use GPT for > partitioning. Compare: > > http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/disksetup.html > > Use MBR only if you have a valid reason as it probably has > reached the state of "not supported anymore". > > > >> 2) The first time X started, xfce4-panel crashed >> 3) The second time, xfce-terminal crashed >> 4) The third time, trying to launch firefox rebooted the system. > This (and especially the last problem) leads to the impression > that there is a _massive_ problem, it's probably not related to > the FreeBSD OS, and surely not to installed applications. Are > you sure there isn't a hardware problem lurking in the background? > Like... starting a web browser reboots the system... this simply > sounds totally wrong. > > > >> Overall, 10.3 i386 seems to have gremlins in the belly. What do I do ? > I have a 10.2 installation on an older Dell laptop, running Gnome 2, > no problems so far (but I haven't tried updating it yet, as I'm a > big fan of "never touch a running system", a symptom of lazyness > and "fat fingers"). :-) > > > >> Try some linux distro ? This is exactly what I have been trying to avoid. > Check out PC-BSD or try the Lxde desktop. Maybe you can also > settle for a less convoluted desktop, i.e. a window manager > that you like. > > > >> BTW, does anyone have any idea where can I get Windows XP drivers for >> the NE56R laptop ? > >From the manufacturer of course. :-) > > > >> If nothing else works, XP remains my fall-back option. > For offline use that's probably more or less okay. :-) > > I strongly suspect some hardware problem, quite possible RAM : there is a page fault at boot time and the report is in /var/crash. I am running memtest86+ for 24 hours, and will report results tomorrow. If memtest86+ detects no errors, I will paste the contents of the crash report for some expert to analyse. Regards Manish Jain